Chương 10: He Needs to Put an End to This Worst-Case Streak

The moment their wanted bounty posters hit the streets, Hale's group vanished from Raveno. They had been driving continuously for about one and half an hour since clearing the city gates and were currently taking a breather beneath the shade of a roadside tree.

"I don't get it..." Ryan muttered, pacing in circles around Hale. Hale, meanwhile, was jogging on the spot out of sheer ecstasy, thrilled to finally have full use of his legs again.

"Yesterday, you literally couldn't feel a single thing in your left leg." Hale laughed out loud.

"Ever heard of 'One good turn deserves another'? We did our fair share of good deeds, so the gods saw fit to pardon me." Ryan shot him a sideways glance.

"You didn't do jack. Maddie did all the heavy lifting." That brought a flush of embarrassment to Hale's face. True, he had relied entirely on Maddie to pull off the vigliante stunt while he just sat back and barked orders. But then again, his Karma score had spiked in the first place because of Maddie's antics, so having her work a little to bring the debt down didn't exactly count as exploitation... right? Despite the rationalization, he still felt a prickle of guilt and glanced over at Maddie.

She was currently hauling a rolled-up picnic rug from the vehicle, intending to spread it out so they could sit. As she stepped down, the rug slipped from her grip and tumbled to the dirt, though she quickly swept it back up. Hale's brow furrowed. He walked over to her.

"Maddie, is something wrong with your arm?" Maddie replied, keeping her gaze strictly averted.

"No, sir." Hale reached out, gently grasping her right arm. Though her facial expression remained flat, the muscles in her arm and shoulder instantly locked up. It was a textbook, instinctive reaction to pain. Hale felt as though his stomach had just been struck by a sledgehammer. Maddie was injured, and this definitely hadn't happened this morning. The petty thieves they had rounded up over the past few nights didn't possess the firepower to scratch a dragonborn.

"You've been carrying an injury since your fight with Elias, haven't you?" Maddie remained silent, but Hale didn't need an answer. Who exactly was Elias? He was the undisputed Sword Master of an entire kingdom, the man who had bested Maddie's own master. Even if he had been heavily poisoned at the time, there was no way Maddie could trade blows evenly with a guy like that without taking some serious damage herself. And despite being the one constantly by her side, Hale hadn't noticed a damn thing.

Instead, he had repeatedly ordered her out into the night to run errands for his own selfish gain. Seeing the dark look clouding his face, Maddie spoke up.

"It is not a severe wound. If left alone, it will heal itself in a few days."

"How far is it to the next town? We need to find you a doctor."

"There is no need. An ordinary doctor wouldn't know how to speed up the recovery anyway." Hale let out a heavy sigh, snatched the rug from Maddie's hands, and clumsily laid it across the ground using his lone left hand. Once it was flat, he patted the space beside him, signaling for Maddie to sit. Until this very moment, Hale had been utterly clueless about what to do with his new lease on life. He had been dropped into a foreign universe under the absolute worst conditions, seemingly rejected by the world itself.

There were moments when he felt that pushing forward like this was entirely pointless. But there were also moments when he felt genuinely glad. He was flanked by a sharp-tongued but soft-hearted kid and a fiercely devoted maid. If he actually managed to kick the bucket here, at least someone would genuinely mourn his passing. He decided he wanted to keep living. But if he was going to live, he was going to do it with some damn dignity.

He couldn't keep coasting along like this, playing the helpless cripple waiting for handouts. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"I know I'm pretty useless right now..." Maddie cut him off instantly.

"You are not useless, Master."

"Come on. Let's maintain a shred of self-awareness here," Hale said, shaking his head.

"Right now, I'm a disabled guy missing basic common sense about this world, and I can't even cast magic properly. If I said I don't need your help, I'd be lying through my teeth. But I'm going to feel like absolute garbage if you keep running yourself into the ground for my sake." Maddie remained entirely unswayed.

"Serving you is what I wish to do, Master." Hale pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated.

"Fine. Then I am officially ordering you to prioritize your own well-being. No neglecting your own health for me, and absolutely no more getting injured!" Maddie blinked, looking utterly bewildered, as if the concept he had just thrown at her was written in a foreign language. Hale broke it down further:"Instead of this rigid master-and-servant dynamic, why can't we just be traveling companions? You help me, and I'll help you to the absolute best of my ability.

We pull each other's weight instead of me just leaching off you, deal? Or do you honestly think I'm too incompetent to be of any help?"

"You are not incompetent, Master!"

"Right. Since you believe that, let me carry a share of the load, alright?" Ryan, who had been resting his chin on his hands listening to the exchange, chimed in dryly, "But realistically, there's nothing you can actually do." Hale glared at him.

"That goes for you too, kid. Starting today, you don't get to just bury your nose in books all day. You're helping out with chores." With that settled, Hale began brainstorming what tasks a one-armed man could realistically accomplish. Cooking with one hand was an absolute nightmare, and frankly, Maddie's culinary skills were top-tier. Setting up camp whenever they parked the vehicle? That was light work; he could assign that to Ryan.

"Didn't I see you driving the vehicle with just one hand the other day?" he turned to ask Maddie.

"Yes, there is a one-handed operation mode, but it is significantly more difficult than using both hands, and it is entirely unsuited for rough terrain..."

"That's more than enough! Come on, teach me how to drive. We're going to take turns at the wheel from now on." The magic vehicle was operated entirely by manipulating a steering lever. The mechanism could pivot in a full circle; pushing it forward initiated forward momentum, pulling it left or right steered the vehicle, and dragging it backward engaged the brakes.

"The mechanical operation isn't difficult, but the crucial part is that you must continuously channel your Mana to generate fire energy for the vehicle," Maddie explained.

"Since the Mana is strictly flowing outward, you can utilize your body's internal reserve. You don't need both hands for that." Hearing this, Hale pulled up his status panel to review his status. Over the past few days, his Mana had slowly crawled back up to just over 200 points following that disastrous stunt where he burned his entire reserve creating a wind thrust to stop Maddie's fight with Elias. How much mileage does 200 Mana actually get me?

he wondered, though he figured he wouldn't get a concrete answer without trial and error. Ordinary people in this world couldn't exactly quantify their Mana into digital readouts the way his system did. Maddie continued, "If you maintain proper control, the Mana consumption is quite negligible. A single night's rest is usually enough to fully replenish it."

"So the trick is just fine-tuning the control, right? Alright, let me give it a shot." Hale gripped the steering lever with his left hand. Whether this body was naturally left-handed or he had simply adapted out of sheer necessity over the last few days, using his left hand felt remarkably natural. He recalled the sensation of manifesting the fireball, carefully connecting his internal energy reserve with the external fire elements.

"Once the Mana is feeding into the system, push the lever forward to accelerate straight ahead." Hale jolted the lever forward. The vehicle violently lurched forward, giving everyone a collective heart attack. Maddie reassured him, "It is fine. Try again." This time, Hale eased into it much more gradually. The vehicle didn't jerk; instead, it began rolling forward at a slow, steady crawl. After training like this for a solid hour, Hale's left arm felt completely numb from the strain.

However, his control over the Mana output had significantly improved, and he could now cruise comfortably at his desired speed. Satisfied, he handed the controls back to Maddie. Regarding their destination, Hale had weighed their options extensively. He had resolved to tackle the quest that was actively shaving off his lifespan every single day: rescuing Emma from the ice seal.

Emma seemed to be a mutual connection between Elias Leasser and the original Hale Wallace, making it highly probable that she was a classmate from their days at the Military Academy. And that academy was located all the way in Celtatic, the capital of Berula. Traveling from Raveno to Celtatic would take roughly seven days of non-stop driving via the magic vehicle, assuming they only paused for a few hours of sleep each night. But they didn't need to rush that aggressively, nor should they.

Hale planned for them to take a leisurely pace, allowing Maddie's shoulder injury to fully recuperate. In the meantime, he figured he could hunt for minor good deeds along the way to farm enough Merit points to unlock the system's Item Shop. He was desperately hoping it contained something useful for self-defense. Let's face it, he was essentially marching straight into the lion's den completely empty-handed. If their cover got blown and they were hunted down, Maddie would be the only line of defense.

As a man, he couldn't just sit back and let a woman shield him forever—even if that woman happened to be a powerhouse dragonborn. Ryan had somehow managed to secure a trade route map heavily used by local merchants back in Raveno. They bypassed the standard highway that cut through major cities and villages, opting instead for a quieter, more isolated bypass route typically favored by merchants hauling bulky, high-value freight.

Little did they know, barely half a day into their journey, their vehicle was violently ambushed by bandits.